Drunk in its stale airFor two hundred years.Fettered in mind and body,The soul, the safe escape

To let me breathe the criesOf my heart singingTears of mel-an-choly.

The tears flow free todayWashing the stains of bloodAnd sweat in brotherhood.

Raise the curtain then an'Let the world look inOn this promised land --We breathe free today.... almost.

--- Arshad M. Khan

We will be known forever by the tracks we leave.--- Native American proverb

May 3, 2013

Mr. President: You have again articulated the case for Guantanamo closure. It is expensive. It is bad for the U.S. image, made worse by over a 100 prisoners (out of 177) being on a hunger strike that began in February. Their protest is against indefinite detention without conviction. That's the crux of the issue -- indefinite detention. But between 47 and 50 of the prisoners are considered to be too dangerous to release by the government. Thus their indefinite detention without trial will continue at another location according to your plan. As the hunger strike is against indefinite detention -- not the balmy weather in Cuba, it is difficult to understand the logic of closing Guantanamo only to transfer the prisoners to another location, a gulag within our shores.

It was refreshing to have an American president stand up before Mexican university students, and identify U.S. demand as a principal cause of the drug problem. Mexico has suffered severely with record numbers of killings. What was left unsaid was the main reason for them -- the militarization of the war on drugs and the hand of the U.S. in excluding the police (thought to be too corrupt) and focusing their training on the military. The heavy hand of the military raised the stakes and the cartels also became heavily armed in response. We have since observed the result, and the Mexicans are tired of it.

Pakistan, too, has a problem with violence. Before the 'war on terror', bomb attacks in the country were a rare occurrence; now these as well as assassinations have become a language of communication. Today, a prominent lawyer leading the prosecution in theBenezir Bhutto murder case, fell victim to a hail of bullets from a motorcycle assassin who rode up along side his car as he drove to court. Religious extremists are commonly believed to have been behind Benazir's killing, but the kingpins in such cases are never brought to justice, only the minions who carry out orders.

It reminds me, why would the feudal regimes of Qatar, which boasts a huge U.S. military presence, and Saudi Arabia, be playing such a leading role against the Syrian regime? We need to look ourselves in the mirror and ask if the dead now well past 70,000, the refugees at a million and increasing -- with heaven knows how many dead children from the cold this winter -- and the destruction of a country, have been worth it. This week there were two bomb attacks in the middle of Damascus killing scores. The media bypassed the word terrorist -- after all they are ours -- and provided justification instead by repeated reference to the rebels delivering a message to the regime that they could attack the heart of government power. By the way, on chemical weapons, the Syrians have asked the obvious question as to why they should resort to them when MIGs with bombs are much more effective. Meanwhile, our handiwork in Fallujah with phosphorous and depleted uranium is still bearing fruit in deformed children and skyrocketing cancer rates.

On the drug question? Isn't it high time we legalized drugs, removing the vast profits incentive. As with the repeal of prohibition, the murder and mayhem of gangland/cartel wars will disappear, and we can focus our current wasted 'drug war' resources into addressing the social and medical problems related to drug use.